polaroids of androids

Here at Polaroids HQ (a magical building primarily run by a hard-working team of midgets on ice) we have hardly taken a break from listening to this album for the past 3 weeks or so. We intended to review it prior to it's release at the start of August. The review we drafted consisted of lovely phrases such as 'fucking awesome', 'far from a let down' and even the highly coveted one - 'album of the year'. Everytime the review was started, it was eventually scrapped. The reason was always the same - it was extremely difficult to put into intelligent words exactly what we thought of this album without sounding like a 15 year old girl who has just been to an N'Sync concert.

We probably don't need to tell regular readers of this site that we love Batrider. We have lapped up everything that they have been nice enough to release and are yet to leave one of their shows without our minds being well and truly blown. For that reason we assumed this album, consisting partly of mild reworkings of songs contained on previously released EP's as well as new tracks, was destined to be a bit of a let down.

From the blistering opening track, What's The Point, it was obvious that we couldn't have been more wrong in our assumptions. The stark, honest lyrics paint a bleak image of depression and isolation. The transparency of the lyrical work of Batrider is one of their strongest characteristics and is ultimately why they are so appealing and believable. The second and third tracks, Dad and Drought take a slightly more up tempo approach than the opener, yet are still marked with the same bone chilling vocals.

It's almost spot on the three minute mark of I Never Feel Like I'm Here that this album makes the swift move from being awesome to 'fuckable'. From this point on the album is a whirlwind of songs with different ideas and styles thrown together. It works unbelievably well as it's all generously drenched in the distinct Batrider sound. Bounce is a pop ballad that has been raped, spat on and left to die in a cold alleyway on the outskirts of Melbourne. Celebrate employs a continual tempo change which follows the mood of the track from frantic to hopeless and desperate. Flies, Thing and Legs are all previously released tracks that slot in perfectly.

The closing number Trouble is as close to perfection as we have ever heard from this band. It threatens on several occasions to erupt, before finally exploding into what is their catchiest and most instantly memorable choruses to date. This track is filled with raw menacing emotion, and just as it is the perfect way that they often choose to end their live set, it also proves to be the most fitting way to close out their debut Australian LP.

If it's true that pictures are worth a thousand words then surely a single music track is worth at least a million - maybe even two. We could spew out metaphors and slightly ordinary descriptions in your direction until we die of old age and/or tragic and unbelievably amazing deaths. But we would be wasting your time. Time you could be spending listening to this album. If you ever hassle us about why we haven't updated this website anytime over the next month, it's because we are spending too much time debating over the tiny details that make this album great. It also means you are spending too much time reading websites and not enough time being completely engrossed in this album. Unless you can somehow do both. In which case you are probably outside of our target demographic.